A thought, prompted by reading a few articles. McLaren have recently been slow in announcing it's driver line up for the following year. This year Ron has said it will be after September. So I was thinking I wonder if Alonso has a September break clause in his contract. i.e. if the McHonda is still not good enough he is allowed to leave McLaren? It then springs to mind Nico's contract is still not renewed and his coming together with Lewis (sometimes his, sometimes Lewis fault) makes Merc think twice. Plus Merc have been publicly praising Alonso recently. So my 2+2=5 theory is that Alonso might go to Merc to replace Nico!!!! Alonso might think that Nico and Lewis are, at least publicly, treated the same and allowed to race. What do you think?
Rosberg puts pen to paper on his new Merc deal , in theory locking both him and Hamilton in at Merc now until 2018. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/36864370
I guess it stops the "Driver X is tied down for longer so will you get rid of Driver Y after that crash?" questions being thrown at them. Plus since their contracts end at the same time, neither feels more secure in the team than the other so I guess it gives Merc the upper hand in threats of what will happen if they crash into each other. It will be interesting come renewal time though.
I was hoping they'd get somebody stronger than Rosberg in that car so we could have a real rivalry at Merc. Oh well.
Yeah, relying on Red Bull now to stop Hamilton winning the next two championships. Pretty boring silly season overall with most teams staying the same. McLaren, Williams and Renault are the only remaining seats that could change and won't be decided by money.
The strong rumours at the moment (even from Denmark) are that both Palmer and Magnussen will be dropped by Renault next year. Massa/Ocon seems the most likely pairing. But its' also possible that Perez could leave force india. Poor KMag can't catch a break it seems. That would be 2 for 2 on harsh sackings.
Magnussen should definitely not be dropped. A driver with his skill set is what they need. Kev and Ocon would be a better pairing.
Magnussen has been only bang average this year. Palmer has been getting a rough ride from most people so far, but he has been much closer to KMag than people have given him credit for. I fear he could end up being the next Hulkenburg. So much promise early on in their career but can't raise their game to the next level (too much believing in their own hype?)
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/button-really-excited-about-life-after-f1-805100/ I think this is the end of Jenson in F1. McLaren will choose Vandoorne and what does a Williams driver really offer him other than just staying in F1? They have no chance of improving to compete at the front and he's always stated he has no intention of hanging around to make up the numbers. (Which of course he has been doing for 4 years, but has kept hope that McLaren will eventually make it back to where they were)
Unless he thinks Williams will turn it around, I wold agree. He doesn't need F1 anymore and his place will be taken by the same kind of up and coming driver that he once was when he started all those years ago. His career hasn't really delivered what it promised at the start. Podiums and wins took a long time to come and were there for a very short period of time. Some of it was bad luck, bad cars etc some of it bad judgement on his parts and his penchant of only being quick in a car that met his perfectionist driving style. His messing around with Williams/BAR contracts may have done him some harm when it came to potential future drives too. A safe pair of hands which is why McLaren were keen to hold on to him, much like Coulthard for all those years.
It will be a real shame if we don't get to see him and Fernando in a car together that can fight for wins. I think the conversation will very much be around what Hondas development curve is this winter and in 2017. I believe there is an opportunity for a significant step forward and the extra shift towards downforce will benefit the likes of Newey and Prodromou, so McLaren could step forward. It's a very big step to Mercedes though. IMHO Vandoorne could (should) be leased to a team for a year to gain experience. I think McLaren are also afraid of having that same issue as when a rookie Lewis came in and gave Alonso an unbelievable battle, so Jenson may yet stay. Honda have talked about being a supplier too so there may yet be a deal to get Vandoorne driving somewhere.
It would be lovely to Jenson be rewarded for the toil of the last few years by finally getting another competitive McLaren to drive, but it doesn't seem likely. As for not living up to his promise. Well if you end your career with a title, 15 wins and 50 podiums and it's regarded as a disappointment, then i guess you had a hell of a lot of potential. He had (and has) the ability to achieve more if had found himself with better cars. He got a lucky break with Brawn and not much in the other years of his career, with Honda, McLaren and then McLaren-Honda failing to live up to their budgets and expectations, but i doubt he'd complain too much. He achieved everything he wanted, with the exception of a podium at Silverstone. I think his performance against Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in the same car is a better legacy than the raw data of his race results.
He had massive potential. As said, a combination of bad luck, bad cars and some bad decisions meant I don't think he fulfilled what he could have done. 15 wins in 17 seasons of F1 is journeyman stuff these days if you were to look at the raw stats. Coulthard was 13 wins in 15 seasons, so a comparison between the two is fair IMHO. His Brawn title was down to a massive car advantage at the start of the season , which dwindled away at which point he sometimes didn't make Q3. Barichello was hardly at the pinnacle of his career at that point. He won't go down as one of the greats I'm afraid, but will be rememebered for some great drives.
David Coulthard was driving a car that won races almost every year from 1994-2004 (excluding only 1996). 13 wins in 10 seasons of race winning equipment. Whilst Jenson has 15 wins in 5 years of race winning cars (and the 2006 car was exclusively race winning in his hands which isn't true for any of DC's seasons). That's ultimately why DC isn't remembered as a great despite his stats. It was usually his teammate doing the winning. Similar drivers in raw results but less so in context. Whilst i disagree with the Coulthard comparison. I do agree that he won't go down as an all time great, but neither as a journeyman. There's some considerable middle ground there (one that i would say contains all but about 10-15 of the race winners and world champions there have been). As i said the fact he has been able to take the fight to two drivers who will go on the all time great list should be in his credit.
The difference between Coulthard and Button is that Button has spent a significant number of years in the wrong car at the wrong time. I rate Button significantly over Coulthard personally.
Okay, so maybe the comparison was a bit harsh. It was more to emphasise that with 300 odd races under his belt, Jenson's results are not all they really should have been (for the reasons I have said which are not all down to him).
I hear ya. Button has probably never really achieved what he was truly capable of. But Coulthard was just never capable of those things imo. He drove some fantastic cars and never really looked close to champion material.
